Take My Hand
by she says hello
Summary: A magical stone, when held by two people in love, will not let their hands separate. When Sasuke and Sakura realize that their hands are stuck thanks to the stupid stone, they wonder if there could be love... Romance with a bit of humour.
1. Congratulations!

Take My Hand

Chapter 1. Congratulations!

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" A window slammed open and Naruto's head peered inside Sakura's apartment. "Sasuke's finally released from the interrogation! You should go heal him. He should be in the hospital now."

It had been a few weeks since Uchiha Sasuke returned to Konoha. Everyone was giving him hell for all the trouble he's caused, but among them were also the rare few who sincerely welcomed him back. Naruto was definitely one of them. Sakura was, too, but she would never admit it out loud.

"Naruto! I told you to stop barging into my room, pervert!" Sakura looked for the closest sharp object she could find – a fork from last night's dinner – and targeted the rude intruder.

"But the window was open!" His arms shot to cover his head in fear of the flying fork. When he realized that the fork had not yet left Sakura's hand, however, he thought he could take a chance. "Maybe you left it open on purpose?" With a snicker, he added, "Look who's the real pervert, Sakura-chan."

This time, the fork did fly in the air and struck him directly in the head. Dismissing the blood flowing down his face, however, Naruto reminded, "Go check Sasuke in the hospital!" and ran away before Sakura could throw another.

With a sigh, Sakura walked up to the window to close it. Naruto was right. She had left the window open for the sole purpose that Naruto would bring her the news. The past few weeks were driving her crazy. The Konoha authorities called it "interrogation" but she knew it was just really torture. So now that the worst part was over and Sasuke was replaced in the hospital for recovery, she could let all her worries go. But she will not, as Naruto suggested, go and heal Sasuke herself because of two reasons. One, Tsunade would be in charge of healing Sasuke anyway so she wasn't really needed. And two, she didn't want to face Sasuke.

But if she didn't face him now, how could she face him later? With that thought in mind, Sakura grabbed her coat and made way for the hospital.

At the hospital, nurses and other medics greeted her. They also all pointed towards the room that Sasuke was staying in. Perhaps they were mistaken that Sakura was still in love with Sasuke, because she was absolutely not. She was way over him! It was just facing him that was… scary. She had no idea what to expect.

The metallic doorknob on her hand was a cold touch, as though it was warning the agitated medic not to enter. With a gulp, Sakura turned on the knob and…

There were already about twenty visitors crowded in the small hospital room. That was probably why all the nurses had directed Sakura to Sasuke's room. They must have been tired from already being questioned by these other unexpected twenty or so visitors.

Sakura looked around the room, half-bewildered and half-relieved that there were this many people caring to visit Sasuke. But the one man she came for, she couldn't find, until…

"Sakura."

She almost didn't recognize him. In several wrapped bandages all across his chest and arms and even near his eyes – did he damage his Sharingan? – the patient was dressed in a simple pink hospital gown. Pink, because Sakura had asked for them the previous year. But what felt most different about him was his distance. Though they were physically only several feet apart, there lay a million worth of miles between them. And then when he had spoken her name, that million miles had suddenly reduced to an inch for a split second.

She hated how easily he could manipulate that.

"Sakura-chan!" From among the crowd, Naruto jumped out to greet her. "I knew you'd come!"

"Yeah, well. Here I am." Shrugging and staring away from Sasuke, Sakura swerved around to leave. "He looks fine. Bye now."

"Wait! Try giving her the stone!" Someone in the crowd yelled out, and another looped her arm to stop her from leaving. Before she could question "What stone?" a sudden cool object was placed in her left hand. That was obviously "the stone."

"Okay, Sakura-chan." Naruto snickered as his right hand reached for her left. "If this works out, we'll be stuck together forever! You've got to marry me then!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Naruto?!" She peered at her hand, now entwined with Naruto's, before she quickly added, "There's no way I'm marrying you, idiot." She then tried to pull away her hand, attempting to put an end to this nonsense. To her horror, her hand stayed stuck.

"Wha—"

The crowd – except for Sasuke who was silently staring like usual – gave a long whistle and burst out giggling. "Congratulations to Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura! You guys are officially in love with each –" Before they could finish their speech, however, another tug pulled their hands apart.

"Awwwwww" The crowd broke out in unison, but quickly recovered, each stepping forward to hold Sakura's hand.

"Okay, can someone please tell me what this is about?" Sakura reluctantly allowed to have what seemed like a friendly handshake with the group. "Don't tell me it's something stupid like hands being stuck if they're in love."

"That's right! You've always been so smart, Sakura-chan!" beamed Naruto.

Next was Lee. "I, Rock Lee, is highly honoured to take your hand, Sakura-chan. The world is now witnessing the proof of our love!" Contrasting his confident speech however, his hand was trembling with nervousness as he grabbed Sakura's hand. When their hands quickly disentangled from each other's, the poor guy went back in line to wait for another turn. "However many handshakes it takes us, we will prove our love!"

_Oh dear._

It took more than an hour until the whole room finally calmed down. Sakura had held hands with the usual guys like Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Sai, and probably about forty-two times with Lee before she finally smacked him in the face so he could be out conscious in a corner of the room. When she thought the ridiculous thing – though she was secretly curious – was done, the door burst open for another long line of male medics from the hospital.

Sakura definitely felt popular that day, until she realized all those male medics had already tried holding the stone with the rest of the female medics.

"Okay, I'm going now." The pink-haired medic was sure she couldn't even feel her hand anymore. From all the shaking and holding, it just felt like extra weight.

"Wait! We forgot one more!" Of course it was Naruto, again, whose brain only ever worked for these kind of stupid things.

'_Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! But he'll never hold hands with me!" _Her hand reached for the door knob to leave, while muttering "I'm sure we can skip the last one, Naruto." She hoped her message got through the blonde idiot.

"Come _on_, Sakura-chan! You didn't try it with Sasuke-teme here, and he's probably the most likely candidate out of all of us!" Naruto blurted out, and Sakura could barely contain her hand from forming into a fist to drive Naruto to the ground.

"Yeah, why not?"

For a second, her heart stilled. Who said that? She turned around with wide eyes, catching Sasuke looking directly at her with a smirk. He extended his right hand towards her, the stone carelessly placed in his hand.

"You're kidding" was all she could manage to say.

"Why not? Unless you're really still in _love_ with me?" Despite his smirk, Sasuke's tone of voice and his hard gaze on her looked almost threatening. It was as though he had challenged her to a fight.

"Hah! You must be out of your mind to say that! I fucking hate you, Sasuke! There's no way I still love you!" She retorted back, almost tempted to flee but keeping her ground instead.

"Then prove it." His hand was held out to her.

It was then the crowd broke out into an enthusiastic chant of "Prove it! Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!"

"Maybe _you're_ the one in love with me." Sakura pointed out, though totally disbelieving her own words as she said so. Nevertheless, she reached for his hand, just to give a really, really light –

His right hand wrapped around her left hand, pulling her a step closer. For a second, Sakura truly wished their hands wouldn't fall apart like it had with the previous attempts. But when she tried tugging away and their hands wouldn't budge away from each other, a heavy lump of panic dropped on her. This wasn't supposed to happen! She was truly over the damn Uchiha, or so she had thought the past year. He couldn't know her feelings. He shouldn't, and what if their hands really stayed stuck forever?

"Damn you, Sasuke! What kind of sick jutsu did you use?" The panicked medic swung her arm this way and that, trying to get rid of the firm hand gripping on her. When her eyes met Sasuke's, however, Sakura realized he was as much in shock as she was.

"You're the one holding onto me. Get off, Sakura!" He equally tried to pull away his hand, but his efforts were in vain. "Stop being so annoying, and get off!"

"No, you're the one still holding! You get off!" This time, her free hand grabbed Sasuke's right arm and tried to pull it away from her. She even started using chakra, wondering if that could do any help, until Sasuke's free hand grabbed hers.

"That hurts, idiot! Why do you still love me?!"

"What?! I do _not!_"

"You do or this wouldn't have happened!"

"Do _not!_"

"Uh… Guys?" It was Shikamaru, and not the usual Naruto, who intervened. "I think it's safe to assume that you are both in love with each other. That's the only explanation, anyhow."

"WE DO NOT!" Both Sakura and Sasuke denied fiercely, which merely incited a laughter from the crowd, who, finally having absorbed the situation, broke out into a speech.

"Congratulations, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura! You guys are now officially a couple!"

* * *

Notes. I really enjoyed writing Sasuke panicking like an idiot here. Hopefully that didn't come out as being too OOC


	2. Still Stuck

Take My Hand

Chapter 2: Still Stuck

* * *

Eventually, all the visitors except Sakura went on their way with a "Good luck" and a stifled giggle, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone in the hospital room. For about an hour, Sakura kept pulling and tugging away her hand from Sasuke's, but all her efforts were in vain. Their hands were definitely stuck. Sasuke, on the other hand, went back to leaning against the hospital bed with nonchalance.

"Sasuke! Don't just sit there. You try too!" In the midst of the tugging, Sakura grumbled every five minutes or so, looking up at the Uchiha with accusing eyes.

"Just give it up, Sakura." Sasuke muttered back, after having activated his Sharingan to inspect their hands. The stone was emitting a strange chakra that had intricately tied itself to Sasuke and Sakura's hands. Trying to physically pull them apart wouldn't work. There was probably something else behind this, perhaps another jutsu to dispel the cursed stone.

"Come _on, _Sasuke! I want to go home. Let's get rid of this stupid stone and go home!" Sakura swore she would never whine in front of any Uchiha ever again, but it was Saturday, her day off from work! She had much better things to do than to be stuck in the very workplace beside the very man she wanted to run away from.

Sasuke, meanwhile, remained indifferent on surface, but mulled over what Sakura had just said. Home? He wondered if he still had "home." The entire village of Konoha, in a way, was home. There was also the Uchiha mansion that was left deserted ever since the massacre. The young Uchiha had planned the revival of his bloodline countless times, but to actually live in the very place his parents were murdered was a different question. He'd have to get over it, but for now…

"Okay. Let's go home, Sakura." His head was turned towards the window, subconsciously averting his gaze from Sakura as he waited for her answer.

"What?" Pink hair flowed around her shoulders as she twirled around to meet Sasuke's gaze. "How? We're stuck here, and I know you need to be hospitalized for at least five more days. And…" She left the sentence unfinished, wondering if she was allowed to cross the line. _'And what about your home? Do you mean the Uchiha mansion?'_

For a second, he turned towards her and gave a hard gaze that seemed to say, "There's no way I'm staying in the hospital for five more days." He then looked away again, towards the window, towards the blue sky.

"Where's your home?" He asked, hoping she wasn't still living with her parents. They were now eighteen, and most shinobis usually moved out by that age.

"The same place." Sakura answered with aroused suspicion. "You know, before you left…"

"You still live with your parents?"

"So what?! There's no rule saying I can't, and I'd rather be with my family as much as I can before –" Sakura shot back in defense, but abruptly stopped, unable to continue her sentence. There were two things that bothered her at that moment. First, had she finished her sentence, it would have come out as something like "—before I die on a mission" because an average shinobi's lifetime was much, much shorter than an average villager. Second, and this bothered her the most, she mentioned her family in front of the man whose family was murdered when he was a mere child. Lamely, she added, "Sorry."

Inwardly sighing, Sasuke muttered, "I guess we have no choice. Let's go over to mine," which implied the Uchiha mansion. There was probably a lot of cleaning to do, and with their hands tied together, he was definitely not looking forward to facing Sakura's parents nor attempting to live in a dusty, deserted house.

"Wait," Sakura peered at him with continued suspicion. "You mean you would have just gone to mine if my parents weren't there? There's no way I'm going to spend the night with you _alone_."

Tempted to smirk, but choosing only to raise his eyebrows, Sasuke replied, "But we have to." He raised their tied hands as proof.

Face red with embarrassment, Sakura abruptly stood up and pulled herself toward the door with Sasuke pulled behind. "Fine! Let's just go over to my place for now. I'll explain the situation to my parents; they'll understand." She doubted the last part was true. Her parents, more than anything, would overblow their situation and make fun of them. Or worse, they might…

Before they could leave, the door slammed open, revealing a frowning woman with her arms crossed.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura instinctively hid her hand that held Sasuke's, as though being confronted by a parent for committing mischief.

Tsunade shot a sharp, warning look at the Uchiha behind her most prized student, before declaring, "You guys go stay at Sakura's. I've contacted a jounin and a few information and research-centered shinobis to investigate this… issue." Turning towards Sakura, she added, "I've also contacted your parents already."

Sasuke, while silent, wondered at the gravity of their situation. Besides his hand being stuck with Sakura's, he saw no harm to the strange stone. But the Hokage in front of him was ordering several high-skilled shinobi to solve what should be a trivial issue. Or… was there something more to it? Perhaps there was more danger to the stone? His question was answered immediately though, when Tsunade marched up to him.

Grabbing his shoulder, her nails digging through his skin, she hissed threateningly, "Don't you _dare_ lay a finger on Sakura!" She was just being overprotective of her favourite student.

Sasuke replied dryly with a "Who would lay a finger on some scrawny flat-chested girl?" Instantly, Sakura made a fist poised to strike the obnoxious, annoying Uchiha. Before she could, Tsunade beat her to it and landed a chakra and anger-infused punch towards him. Fortunately for Sasuke, he nimbly stepped away in time to see the wall behind him blown away to bits.

Glaring with absolute malice and barely keeping her fist in control, Tsunade yelled, "You must be BLIND to miss that Sakura's a grown woman now! She's got the curves in all the right places and the last time I saw her at the public bathhouse, she was enticing enough to charm every single man here in Konoha. Do you hear me? EVERY. SINGLE. MAN."

"Tsunade-sama…" Sakura, fully blushing and wanting nothing but for her sensei to stop, tried to calm her down. Oh, how her insides were writhing in such embarrassment, especially in front of _Sasuke_ of all people!

As though just realizing what she had said, Tsunade quickly added, "Of course, I'll kill you if you try to make a move on her."

Then, shoving the pair outside the hospital, she ordered, "Now _go. _Your parents are waiting, Sakura. And I'm sure they'll keep a watch on him!"

Out on the street, the passing shinobis and villagers naturally stepped away to make a path. Occasionally, a "Congratulations!" was heard here and there.

"Oh my god, I could die right now." Sakura covered her face with her free hand.

"I already did when I realized you wouldn't let go of my hand." Sasuke replied sarcastically.

"I told you it's the stupid stone! God, Sasuke! You're the one still holding on!" She hissed and paced ahead, fuming with humiliation and annoyance. Oh, except the damn Uchiha was still stuck with her.

When they finally arrived home, Sakura let out a breath of relief before tensing again. Another obstacle – her parents – were just behind the front door. For a few minutes, they stood still. Perhaps she should listen to Sasuke and go over to his house instead. Knowing her parents, they would –

_Ding dong._

Sasuke pressed the doorbell. When she glared at him accusingly and with horror, Sasuke merely shrugged, as though to say, "What's the worst that could happen?"

The door suddenly flung open to reveal two Harunos, full of enthusiasm and bursting with utter joy. "Hello, Sasuke-kun!" They yelled, and behind them was a large hand-made banner that read, "A WARM WELCOME TO OUR SON-IN-LAW."

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Notes: Hope this came out both unexpected but natural enough to be readable.


End file.
